More members of the British public than ever believe that the NHS is doing a good job, according to data analysed here by John Appleby. Which raises the question of why the government finds it lacking and is pushing for urgent change?

The NHS may be, in the words of Nigel Lawson, “the closest thing the English have to a religion” (adding for good measure, “with those who practice in it regarding themselves as a priesthood”1), but are we satisfied with it (and the priesthood)?

The longest running survey of public satisfaction with the NHS is the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey.2 The first survey was conducted in 1983. With the exception of three years, it has, among a host of questions about the public’s attitudes to everything from litter to crime, a continuous …